Central Michigan's Crystal Bradford scores 16 points as USA wins gold medal at World University Games

Crystal Bradford of Central Michigan University records a steal against Notre Dame November 29, 2012 in Mt. Pleasant. Bradford scored 16 points Monday in a 90-71 victory over Russia to help Team USA win the gold medal in the World University Games in Kazan, Russia. (Sun photograph by ALEX VANDERSTUYF)

Bradford, along with the rest of Team USA, won the gold medal game Monday in the World University Games as it downed host Russia 90-71 in the championship game.

Scoring 16 points off the bench, Bradford was a huge factor in helping USA pull away from the host country. One game prior, her game-winning basket in the semifinal round against Australia, helped put Team USA into the championship game.

“It’s an unexplainable feeling,” said Bradford in a USA Basketball press release. “I wouldn’t want to have it with anyone but these 11 girls. I think everybody on this team deserved it. We all worked hard. The best feeling is it wasn’t given to us. We worked for it, so to say we deserved it is huge.”

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Team USA finished the World University Games with a perfect 6-0 record, winning a third straight gold medal in the tournament. It is the ninth overall gold medal in the games.

After taking a 22-13 lead after one quarter of play, USA faltered briefly in the second quarter as Russia cut the score to 25-21 which prompted coach Sherri Coale (Oklahoma) to call a timeout with 7:46 to go in the half.

Bradford was inserted into the lineup and made her presence immediately felt with a drive to the basket for two points, while she later hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give her eight points in the half and help stake Team USA to a 41-27 halftime advantage.

“I’m coming off the bench to bring a spark and intensity into the game, and that’s what I knew I had to do,” said Bradford on her contributions to the USA’s 41-27 halftime lead. “I’m just happy that I could do that for my team.”

Russia did not go away quietly, however, and trimmed its deficit to 50-42 in the third quarter. Like almost every other juncture during the game when it was tested, USA responded with a big basket as Bria Hartley (UConn) drained a 3-pointer to put her squad back ahead by double digits.

The lead for Team USA would balloon to 68-47 by the conclusion of the third quarter and Russia did not make another serious comeback threat.

“I think our success speaks to the selflessness of these guys on this team who were willing to play roles, whatever those roles might be, different roles on different nights,” said Coale in the press release. “Guys who were willing to buy in and be respectful of our coaching staff and try to do it the way that we asked. You couldn’t do that without them being mature enough to do that, and they did in a great way.”

Odyssey Sims (Baylor) contributed 10 points and three assists, earning her co-MVP honors for the World University Games along with Russia’s Tatiana Grigoryeva.

Hartley scored a game-high 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting, including 2-of-3 from behind the arc. Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis (UConn) added 15 points, four rebounds, and two assists.

I’m so proud of them. This is such a difficult thing,” Coale said. “You can say, ‘look how good these players are,’ and they are, they are very, very talented. But fitting all that together in a short amount of times against these teams that have years of experience together is a real challenge.

Bradford scored her 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting, while also chipping in with a pair of rebounds and two steals.

For the tournament, Bradford was fourth on the USA squad in points per game with 10.8 along with 4.7 rebounds per.

“First of all, I learned that I can play with some of the best,” Bradford added. “To win a gold medal is crazy. What I took out of it was, in any situation, in any environment, you have to learn to adapt, period. Russia is completely different from America, so we had to adapt to it. I’m glad all of our team adapted. I’m glad everybody came out of this healthy, and it’s just a blessing.”

The official Twitter for CMU women’s basketball (@CMUWBBall) tweeted out, “Crystal Bradford’s 2013 All-MAC 1st Team MAC Tourney MVP MAC Title NCAA Appearance World University Games Gold Medal #FireUpChips” immediately following the game.